Tuesday, June 03, 2003

CHIMPY SCREWS THE POORTIME - Joe Klein - Blessed Are the Poor — They Don't Get Tax Cuts There are moments in public life when all is revealed, when the true priorities of a politician or a political party — as opposed to the boilerplate and blather — stand naked in the public square. George W. Bush had one last week. The White House and the Republican congressional leaders were desperate to squeeze the Bush tax cut into the $350 billion limit set by the Senate. There were plenty of ways to do this; all sorts of accounting flummeries had already been perpetrated, but a final tweak was needed. So the Republicans decided that the working poor, who pay little or no income taxes — families with incomes from $10,500 to $26,625--should not receive the expanded child tax credit. Almost 12 million children were effectively denied stipends of up to $400. This saved an estimated $3.5 billion, or 1% of the final bill.